Glossary of Terms

This is a list of terms used in reports generated by the Dallas
Independent School District and the Texas Education Agency (TEA).
These terms may be found in the State Accountability System, the
Dallas Accountability System, Norm-referenced, STAAR, TAKS, Woodcock-Munoz, RPTE
reports, etc.

Current Texas Education Agency (TEA) system for evaluating Texas schools and districts. Schools
and districts are rated on four indexes: Student Achievement, Student Progress, Closing Performance Gap, and Postsecondary Readiness.

ACP

See Assessment of Course Performance (ACP).

ACT

See American College Test (ACT).

ADA

See Average Daily Attendance (ADA).

ADM

See Average Daily Membership (ADM).

Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) Committee

Required, campus-based committee for each eligible student
with a disability and for each student for whom a full and
individual evaluation to Referral for Full and Individual
Initial Evaluation is conducted. This committee creates
an individualized education program (IEP) for each disabled student.

Advanced Placement (AP) Courses

A series of courses administered by the College Board that high
school students can take to earn college credit. In order to earn
college credit in an AP course, students must demonstrate their
mastery of higher level coursework and pass an accompanying
course-relevant test.

Advanced Placement (AP) Examinations

National end-of-course examinations for students who have completed
an associated Advanced Placement (AP) course. Results are used to
determine if a student will receive college credit for the course.

American College Test (ACT)

College entrance exam completed by students in grades 11 and 12. This
exam assesses students' grasp of concepts in the core subjects of English,
Mathematics, Reading, Science, and Writing. The composite score
ranges from 11 to 36.

AP Courses

See Advanced Placement (AP) Courses.

AP Examinations

See Advanced Placement (AP) Examinations.

ARD Committee

See Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) Committee.

Assessment of Course Performance (ACP)

A set of district-developed, standardized,
criterion-referenced tests aimed at providing uniform,
districtwide measures of student progress toward mastery of
the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) in language arts, mathematics,
social studies, science, foreign languages, technology, fine arts, and physical education. The ACPs are
administered at the end of each semester to students in
grades K-12.

At-Risk Student

Student deemed to have a higher probability of dropping out
of school based on certain socio-economic challenges and performance
criteria. These criteria include being retained for one or more years,
failing one or more state assessments, being pregnant or currently a
teen parent, being homeless, being a limited English proficient (LEP)
student, being placed in an alternative education setting in the current
or prior years, being on conditional release, being expelled, and previously
dropping out of school. Such students are deemed "at-risk" of failing the
current grade or dropping out of school.

Average Daily Attendance (ADA)

Average number of students in attendance at the school on any
given day, which is the total number of eligible days attended by students
divided by the number of school days in that year.

Average Daily Membership (ADM)

Average number of students enrolled on any given day at the school,
which is the total number of days enrolled by all eligible students
divided by the number of school days in that year.

Average Yearly Transactions (AYT)

Percentage of the average number of students enrolled at the school
on any given day that transfer or withdraw from the school. See Average Daily Membership (ADM).

A full-time program of instruction in which both the student's home language and English are used for instruction.
The amount of instruction provided in each language corresponds with the student's level of proficiency in each
language as well as their level of academic achievement.

Bilingual Education Not Limited
English Proficient (BE Not LEP)

Students served with Bilingual Education due to
parental request that are not limited English proficient
(LEP) students.

An outline of the instructional targets that campuses
must address for the purpose of improving student performance
for all student populations. Additionally, schools are required
to meet all federal, state, and local mandates.

Campus Instructional Leadership Team (CILT)

A team of campus administrators and teachers who participate in
the development of the Campus Improvement Plan (CIP) for improving
student achievement.

CEI

See Classroom Effectiveness Index (CEI).

Chapter 1

Former name of the federal educational program, Title I.

CILT

See
Campus Instructional Leadership Team (CILT).

CIP

See Campus Improvement Plan (CIP).

Classroom Effectiness Index (CEI)

A value-added measure of the amount of academic progress that
a teacher afforded his or her students after a year of
instruction. CEIs evaluate a student's performance on select,
summative standardized tests by comparing his or her performance
to that of similar students in the district.

Cohort

A group of students who follow the same testing pattern for
two consecutive years and were promoted from one grade to the next.
For example, a comparison of the performance of last year's
grade 3 students on the state reading exam to their grade 4 results
on this year's state reading exam. Cohort data enables one to compare
the progress of a set of students over several years as each year they
progress from one grade to the next. See .

College Board

A nonprofit organization comprised of colleges, universities, and other
agencies and associations that provide services to secondary and
post-secondary students, the main goal of this organization is to assist
students in moving from secondary education to higher education.
Programs administered by the College Board include the Scholastic
Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Advanced Placement (AP) program, among others.

Continuously Enrolled

A student who has not missed more than a set number of days in a
course. Absences, late enrollment, withdrawals, or transfers to another
campus result in days counted towards this maximum. A student who misses
more than a set number of days in a course prior to the main course-relevant
and term-appropriate norm- or criterion-referenced test. This "set number
of days" is 20 for year-long courses, prorated from the first instructional
day of the term to the last instructional day of the course-relevant testing
period. For semester-long courses, this "set number of days" is 10.

A comparison between the prior year's students in a specific grade
to the current year's students in that same grade. For example, a comparison
of last year's grade 3 students' performance on the state reading to
this year's grade 3 students' performance on the state reading exam. See Cohort.

Students who have left Dallas ISD as identified by the Texas
Education Agency (TEA). Drop-out information lags behind one
academic year in order to enable the TEA to locate students
who left Dallas ISD and enrolled in another school district in Texas.

Assessments created to evaluated English language proficiency in children in prekindergarten
through grade 12.

IEP

See Individualized Education Program (IEP).

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

A document created for each student that receives special
education services that describes the student's current
skills, states the goals for targeted services, and outlines
the strategies that will be used to achieve those goals.

Students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, come from a family with an annual income at or below
the official poverty line, are eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or other public
assistance, received a Pell Grant or comparable state program of need-based financial assistance, are
eligible for programs assisted under the Title II of the Job Training Partnership (JTPA), or are eligible for
benefits under the Food Stamp Act of 1977. See
Socio-Economic Status.

The sum of all scores divided by the total number of scores. Also
referred to as the average.

Median

The score that lies in the middle if all scores are arranged in
increasing (or decreasing) order.

Migrant Education

Education programs established mainly to meet the needs
of children of farm workers who often face such challenges
as poverty, poor health care, and the readjustments of
moving often from school to school.

A national testing program administered by the National Center
for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education.
Known as "the nation's report card." Since 1969, NAEP tests have
been conducted periodically in reading, math, science, writing, history,
and geography. The NAEP main assessment allows for regional and
state-by-state comparisons of the educational attainment of 4th, 8th,
and 12th grade students.

NCE

See Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE).

Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE)

A method of standardizing scores on a test into a 0-100 scale similar
to a percentile rank, but preserving the valuable equal-interval properties
of a z-score. A NCE score of 50 represents the national average of any grade
level at the time of the year the test was normed. A score of 70 is always
the same distance above grade level, regardless of the level tested, and is
twice as far above grade level as a score of 60. NCEs have a standard deviation
of 21.06.

Norm-Referenced Test (NRT)

A test that allows a student's performance to be compared with the performance
of students across the nation.

The percentage of students who pass the assessment of interest.
District-, school-, grade-, and class-level passing rates are
calculated for various student subgroups. The State Assessment
of Academic Readiness (STAAR) passing rate is synonymous with
"Satisfactory" performance or meeting minimum expectations.

The rank of a student's score compared to all other students
in the population of interest. In a national comparison, if a
student scored at the 60th percentile, then 60% of the students
nationally scored below this student in this particular test in
that year.

Portfolio

A systematic and organized collection of a student's
work throughout a course or class year. It measures the
student's knowledge and skills and often includes some form
of self-reflection by the student.

The schools or campuses at which a student attends classes. May differ from
the school at which the student is officially enrolled. For example, students
enrolled at the TAG magnet, have a Reporting School SLN of 039, but their Official
School Location is Townview, SLN 041.

A standardized test taken by college-bound students that is
designed to predict students' college-preparedness. The SAT is
a test of verbal and mathematical reasoning ability. It is designed
to predict who will do well in college. The SAT Subject Tests are
tests of current ability and knowledge in high school subject areas
such as Literature, Biology, and U.S. History.

School Effectiveness Index (SEI)

A fair, value added measure of how well a school performed, taking
into account the known factors over which the teachers and school have
no control. SEIs factor out socio-economic status, language proficiency,
gender, and previous achievement at the student level as well
as a number of school level factors. All SEIs are centered around a District
mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. Indices of 50 or above denote
areas in which the school met or exceeded the District average.

School Location Number (SLN)

A unique number assigned by Dallas ISD to each school. The three-digit
Texas Education Agency (TEA) number and the SLN are the same for most schools, except for vanguards,
some magnet schools, and academies.

SDAA

See
State Developed Alternative Assessment (SDAA).

SEI

See School Effectiveness Index (SEI).

Similar Students

For the purpose of computing School and Classroom Effectiveness
Indices (SEIs and CEIs), students who have the same demographic characteristics
(i.e. gender, English Learners (EL) status, special
education status, socio-economic status, and three neighborhood characteristics)
and the same level of achievement on the same prior-year tests.

SLN

See School Location Number (SLN).

Socio-Economic Status

An indicator that identifies whether a student meets at least one of the economically
disadvantaged criteria. See Low-SES and Economically Disadvantaged.

Sp. Ed.

See Special Education (Sp. Ed.).

Special Education (Sp. Ed.)

Programs designed to serve children with special mental
and physical needs. Such children are entitled to
individualized education plans that spell out the services
needed to reach their educational goals, ranging from speech
therapy to math tutoring. Traditionally, special education
has taken place in separate classrooms. Increasingly, the
services may also be offered in regular schools and
classrooms.

SST

See Student Support Team (SST).

STAAR

See State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR).

Stability Rate

Number of continuously enrolled
students divided by
Average Daily Membership (ADM)expressed as a
percentage.

Standard Deviation

A measure of the variations of scores about the mean. For most test
data, 68% of the scores are within one standard deviation of the mean,
and 95% of the scores are within 2 standard deviations of the mean.

Standards

Subject-matter benchmarks used to measure students'
academic achievement. Curriculum standards drive what
students learn in the classroom.

Stanford 9 (SAT 9)

The ninth edition of the national norm-referenced test that measures
grade K-9 students' understanding of concepts in the areas of reading,
writing, and mathematics.

Special practices, procedures, and theories used in the education of
children who have been identified as gifted or talented.

Talented and Gifted (TAG) Student

Students who demonstrate an exceptional ability to learn or demonstrate
high level performance in one or more domains.

TAKS

Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS).

TEA

Texas Education Agency (TEA).

Teacher Excellence Initiative (TEI)

New system used to evaluate and define teacher excellence within Dallas ISD. Three key components are examined: teacher performance,
student achievement, and student survey.

TEA Number

Texas Education Agency (TEA) Number.

TEI

Teacher Excellence Initiative (TEI).

TEKS

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).

TELPAS

Texas English Language Proficiency
Assessment System (TELPAS).

Test Levels

Different forms of norm-referenced tests. Some talented and gifted (TAG)and Special Education (Sp. Ed.)
students are tested at test levels other than the regular assigned testing
level.

Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS)

A state-mandated, criterion-referenced test in reading (grades 3-8), mathematics
(grades 3-11), writing (grades 4 and 7), English language arts (grades 10 and 11),
science (grades 5, 8, and 10-11), and social studies (grades 8 and 10-11).
This test covered more subjects and was more rigorous than the Texas Assessment of
Academic Skills (TAAS). TAKS tests for students in grades 3-9 were replaced by the
State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in 2012.

Texas Education Agency (TEA)

A state agency with board members elected by each educational region of the
state and headed by a commissioner appointed by the governor.

Texas Education Agency (TEA) Number

A three-digit number assigned by the TEA to each
school in Texas. Every school in Texas is uniquely identified by their combined
TEA Number and District Number. See SLN.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

Statewide curriculum designed by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), which became effective in all
content areas on September 1, 1998. Districts are required to provide
instruction in the essential knowledge and skills at the appropriate
grade levels in the foundation curriculum. Districts are to use the
essential knowledge and skills in the enrichment curriculum as guidelines
for instruction. The current state assessments are aligned with the TEKS.

Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS)

Assessment designed to evaluate the progress that English Learners (EL)
students make in learning the English language.

Title I

The nation's largest federal educational program. Created
in 1965 during the War on Poverty, Title I of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act serves remedial education programs to poor and disadvantaged
children in nearly every school district in the country. Amendments to the
law in 1994 tied the program to schoolwide and districtwide reforms based
on challenging academic standards. Title I was formerly known as
"Chapter 1."

Title IX

A federal program designed to prohibit gender discrimination in education
facilities that receive federal funds. Title IX of the Education Amendments of
1972 cases, which have typically been filed at the college level, have
increasingly been filed against K-12 schools for gender equity in extracurricular
sports.

Title VII

A federal program to make English Learners (EL) students proficient in
the English language. The full title of this program, created in 1984, is Title
VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Funding goes to alternative
approaches to bilingual education, such as English immersion programs, as well
as traditional instruction in a student's native language.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

A management concept adopted from the business world with a strong
focus on client satisfaction and decision-making techniques that encourage
workers to seek continual improvement in the organization.

TQM

Total Quality Management (TQM).

T-Score

A score with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10.
Usually expressed in whole numbers, with most of the scores
in the 20 to 80 range.